News

The final report of Australia’s Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse called for celibacy to be voluntary for Catholic clergy and religious, for priests to be required to report admissions or suspicions of child abuse heard in Confession and for a more transparent process to appoint bishops.

It might not be not cosy, calm or bright – but this year's Nativity scene illustrates the ongoing need for the corporal works of mercy, including feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the sick.

Of all the survivors who reported abuse in religious institutions, more than 60 per cent said it had happened at the hands of the Catholic Church. The report said the Church had demonstrated “catastrophic failures of leadership”, particularly before the 1990s. The average age of abuse victims at Catholic institutions was 11 years old.

15 December 2017
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Archbishop Justin Welby apologised after a review of the Church's handling the Bell case concluded that "the Church of England failed to institute or follow a procedure which respected the rights of both sides".

14 December 2017
| by
Alex Daniel

Christians are still being persecuted in Iraq, according to a priest from Erbil. Father Daniel, 27, was in London this week with the charity Open Doors to brief MPs, Peers and church leaders about the ongoing crisis. in Iraq.

14 December 2017
| by
Alex Daniel

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) has called for the resignation of Britain’s leading maternity doctor following her appeal for women to have access to home abortions, writes Alex Daniel.

A petition launched by the bishops of England and Wales which calls on the government to stand by its manifesto commitment to lift the faith cap on school admissions has received 15,000 signatures in just three weeks.

The Irish bishops have welcomed Pope Francis’ motu proprio concerning the translation of liturgical texts and said they will give time to “reflection and discussion” on the full implications of Magnum Principium.